The amendment, put together by Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin would have expanded background checks to include purchases at gun shows as well as the Internet. Opponents voiced their concerns that the proposal would infringe on their 2nd Amendment rights by imposing a burden on those buying and selling guns.

On Wednesday, the measure was blocked by 46 senators, consisting of mostly Republicans and a few Democrats. The final vote was 54-46, with supporters falling six votes short of the 60 votes needed to clear the Senate.

President Obama slammed those who voted against the compromise claiming it was “a pretty shameful day for Washington.”

"If action by Congress could have saved one person, one child, a few hundred, a few thousand — if it prevented those people from losing their lives to gun violence in the future while preserving our Second Amendment rights, we had an obligation to try," he said. "This legislation met that test. And too many senators failed theirs."

The President and Mayor Nutter weren't the only people frustrated by the outcome. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey also lashed out at gun reform opponents.

"It's pathetic when you really stop and think about it with the level of violence that you have happening on the streets of our city all the time," Ramsey said. "I don't get it. I absolutely do not get it."